U.S. patent application number 11/764497 was filed with the patent office on 2008-12-18 for implementing key performance indicators in a service model.
Invention is credited to Alan D. Braun, Isaac J. Graf, Shoel D. Perelman.
Application Number | 20080312986 11/764497 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40133185 |
Filed Date | 2008-12-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080312986 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Braun; Alan D. ; et
al. |
December 18, 2008 |
Implementing Key Performance Indicators in a Service Model
Abstract
A service model of resources is created and the resources are
mapped to a plurality of templates. The service model represents
real-time characteristics of resources for an enterprise.
Rule-based Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are then configured on
the templates and thereby applied to the depicted resources, and
the overall health of the system that utilizes the depicted
resources depicted is determined. These KPI's can be chained in a
way that allows the user a large amount of flexibility to report
the metrics most relevant to the health of the business.
Inventors: |
Braun; Alan D.; (Morris
Plains, NJ) ; Graf; Isaac J.; (Flushing, NY) ;
Perelman; Shoel D.; (New York, NY) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DILLON & YUDELL LLP
8911 N. CAPITAL OF TEXAS HWY., SUITE 2110
AUSTIN
TX
78759
US
|
Family ID: |
40133185 |
Appl. No.: |
11/764497 |
Filed: |
June 18, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.22 ;
705/7.39 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y02P 90/86 20151101;
G06Q 10/06393 20130101; G06Q 10/06312 20130101; G06Q 10/06
20130101; Y02P 90/80 20151101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/7 ;
705/8 |
International
Class: |
G06F 9/44 20060101
G06F009/44; G06F 9/46 20060101 G06F009/46 |
Claims
1. A method for configuring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in a
service model, the method comprising: constructing the service
model based on a plurality of identified external data sources,
wherein the service model depicts multiple resources; assigning at
least one KPI to each of the multiple depicted resources;
configuring at least one event-based rule for at least one of the
multiple depicted resources that are depicted in a bottom level of
the service model; assigning a KPI to at least one of the depicted
resources that are depicted in higher levels of the service model;
chaining the KPIs in a user-configured manner to report a status of
the multiple depicted resources; and setting at least one threshold
for each of the depicted resources that are depicted in the higher
levels of the service model.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing a business
impact analysis of resources depicted in the service model based
upon how a plurality of the multiple depicted resources performs
when scored against assigned KPIs.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein a customizable policy logic is
written by a user to provide additional flexibility in determining
the status of the multiple depicted resources in accordance with
their respective KPIs.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the customizable policy logic
receives a plurality of KPI's as inputs.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the customizable policy logic
receives, as inputs, responses to dynamic queries to external
databases for performing KPI computations.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one KPI can access
any properties configured on the resources to perform KPI
calculations.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: scheduling
maintenance of the depicted resources according to the business
impact analysis.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the business impact analysis
determines if terms of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for
maintaining the resources depicted in the service model have been
met, wherein the SLA comprises a time-based performance
threshold.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one event-based rule
is based on incoming data to affect said at least one of the
multiple depicted resources.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein each service model template
comprises a set of rules that defines a dependency relationship
between two or more of the depicted resources.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein each service model template
comprises a set of rules that map each of the depicted resources to
one or more of the external data sources.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: quantifying the
real-time characteristics of the depicted resources to create a
performance score that describes a health of a total system that
utilizes the depicted resources.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected service model is
managed by a service provider, and wherein at least part of the
selected service model depicts computing resources of a customer of
the service provider.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of the external
data sources is a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) that is
directly managed by the customer.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein data from the CMDB is obtained
by Structured Query Language (SQL) queries to the CMDB.
16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: visually coding the
depicted resources in accordance with each visually-coded depicted
resource's performance relative to an assigned KPI.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: presenting the
visually-coded depicted resources in a table.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the depicted
resources are assigned to multiple service model templates.
19. A data processing apparatus comprising: a service model
construction logic, wherein the service model construction logic
comprises: storage for a plurality of service model templates;
receiving logic for receiving an input that selects one of the
service model templates for construction of a selected service
model, wherein the selected service model represents real-time
characteristics of multiple depicted resources; data source
identification logic for identifying external data sources that are
used to describe the real-time characteristics of the multiple
depicted resources; and construction logic for constructing the
service model using the identified external data sources; a Key
Performance Logic (KPI) for assigning at least one KPI to each of
the multiple depicted resources; a rule propagation logic for:
configuring at least one event-based rule for at least one of the
multiple depicted resources that are depicted in a bottom level of
the service model; assigning a KPI to at least one of the depicted
resources that are depicted in higher levels of the service model;
and setting at least one threshold for each of the depicted
resources that are depicted in the higher levels of the service
model.
20. A computer program product for configuring Key Performance
Indicators (KP Is) in a service model, the computer program product
comprising: a computer usable medium having computer usable program
code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code
comprising: computer usable program code configured for presenting
a plurality of service model templates; computer usable program
code configured for receiving an input that selects one of the
service model templates for construction of a selected service
model, wherein the selected service model represents real-time
characteristics of multiple depicted resources; computer usable
program code configured for identifying external data sources that
are used to describe the real-time characteristics of the multiple
depicted resources; computer usable program code configured for
constructing the service model using the identified external data
sources; computer usable program code configured for assigning a
plurality of KPIs to each of the multiple depicted resources;
computer usable program code configured for configuring at least
one event-based rule for at least one of the multiple depicted
resources that are depicted in a bottom level of the service model;
computer usable program code configured for assigning a KPI to at
least one of the depicted resources that are depicted in higher
levels of the service model; and computer usable program code
configured for setting at least one threshold for each of the
depicted resources that are depicted in the higher levels of the
service model.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of computers,
and specifically to software. Still more specifically, the present
disclosure relates to dynamically creating a service model of
computing resources.
[0002] Enterprises utilize many resources, including computing
resources. Often, such resources are layer dependent. For example,
a particular software application may support the needs of a
particular enterprise department, while hardware resources such as
a server farm may support the execution of the particular software
application.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] A service model is created for depicting an enterprise's
resources. The service model may be created dynamically via lookups
into external data sources, or statically through a user interface
or scripts. The resources in the service model are assigned to
templates. The templates contain a plurality of rules that are used
to define KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are used to report
performance levels of the resources. These rules can be chained in
a way that allows the user to easily configure any propagation
logic that will most effectively report the health of the resources
in the service model.
[0004] The above as well as additional objectives, features, and
advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the
following detailed written description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] The invention itself will best be understood by reference to
the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment
when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
wherein:
[0006] FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary computer in which the present
invention may be implemented;
[0007] FIG. 2 illustrates a relationship among resources depicted
in a service model that has been constructed in accordance with the
present disclosure;
[0008] FIG. 3 depicts logic found within a service model
construction logic that is used to construct the service model
depicted in FIG. 2;
[0009] FIG. 4 is a flow-chart of exemplary steps taken to construct
the service model shown in FIG. 2;
[0010] FIG. 5 depicts a service model having visually-coded nodes
based on a represented resource's performance relative to a Key
Performance Indicator (KPI) that has been propagated to the node in
a manner described in FIG. 6A-9;
[0011] FIG. 6A depicts a relationship among rules in different
levels of a service model such as that depicted in FIG. 5;
[0012] FIG. 6B illustrates an exemplary utilization of templates
and rules when applied to web resources;
[0013] FIG. 7 illustrates a visually coded service model that
describes performance levels of different resources;
[0014] FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary real-time scorecard depicting
how an enterprise's resources, which are depicted at different
nodes in the service model, are performing relative to Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the enterprise's resources;
and
[0015] FIG. 9 is a flow-chart of exemplary steps taken to perform a
business impact analysis based on the KPIs of the resources
depicted in the service model.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0016] As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the
present invention may be embodied as a method, system, or computer
program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the
form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software
embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code,
etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that
may all generally be referred to herein as a "circuit," "module" or
"system." Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a
computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium having
computer-usable program code embodied in the medium.
[0017] Any suitable computer usable or computer readable medium may
be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may
be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,
optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,
apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a
non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include
the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a
portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory
(RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only
memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable
compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device,
a transmission media such as those supporting the Internet or an
intranet, or a magnetic storage device. Note that the
computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper or
another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the
program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical
scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted,
or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then
stored in a computer memory. In the context of this document, a
computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium that
can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the
program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution
system, apparatus, or device. The computer-usable medium may
include a propagated data signal with the computer-usable program
code embodied therewith, either in baseband or as part of a carrier
wave. The computer usable program code may be transmitted using any
appropriate medium, including but not limited to the Internet,
wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.
[0018] Computer program code for carrying out operations of the
present invention may be written in an object oriented programming
language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like. However, the
computer program code for carrying out operations of the present
invention may also be written in conventional procedural
programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or
similar programming languages. The program code may execute
entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as
a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and
partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or
server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be
connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN)
or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an
external computer (for example, through the Internet using an
Internet Service Provider).
[0019] The present invention is described below with reference to
flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods,
apparatuses (systems) and computer program products according to
embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block
of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and
combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block
diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions.
These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor
of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other
programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such
that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the
computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create
means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the
flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
[0020] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a
computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other
programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular
manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable
memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction
means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart
and/or block diagram block or blocks.
[0021] The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a
computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a
series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or
other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented
process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or
other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the
functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram
block or blocks.
[0022] With reference now to FIG. 1, there is depicted a block
diagram of an exemplary computer 100, with which the present
invention may be utilized. Computer 100 includes a processor unit
104 that is coupled to a system bus 106. A video adapter 108, which
drives/supports a display 110, is also coupled to system bus 106.
System bus 106 is coupled via a bus bridge 112 to an Input/Output
(I/O) bus 114. An I/O interface 116 is coupled to I/O bus 114. I/O
interface 116 affords communication with various I/O devices,
including a keyboard 118, a mouse 120, a Compact Disk--Read Only
Memory (CD-ROM) drive 122, and a flash memory drive 126. The format
of the ports connected to I/O interface 116 may be any known to
those skilled in the art of computer architecture, including but
not limited to Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports.
[0023] Computer 100 is able to communicate with a server 150 via a
network 128 using a network interface 130, which is coupled to
system bus 106. Network 128 may be an external network such as the
Internet, or an internal network such as an Ethernet or a Virtual
Private Network (VPN). Server 150 may be architecturally configured
in the manner depicted for computer 100.
[0024] A hard drive interface 132 is also coupled to system bus
106. Hard drive interface 132 interfaces with a hard drive 134. In
one embodiment, hard drive 134 populates a system memory 136, which
is also coupled to system bus 106. System memory 136 is defined as
a lowest level of volatile memory in computer 100. This volatile
memory may comprise additional higher levels of volatile memory
(not shown), including, but not limited to, cache memory,
registers, and buffers. Code that populates system memory 136
includes an operating system (OS) 138 and application programs
144.
[0025] OS 138 includes a shell 140, for providing transparent user
access to resources such as application programs 144. Generally,
shell 140 (as it is called in UNIX.RTM.) is a program that provides
an interpreter and an interface between the user and the operating
system. Shell 140 provides a system prompt, interprets commands
entered by keyboard 118, mouse 120, or other user input media, and
sends the interpreted command(s) to the appropriate lower levels of
the operating system (e.g., kernel 142) for processing. As
depicted, OS 138 also includes kernel 142, which includes lower
levels of functionality for OS 138. Kernel 142 provides essential
services required by other parts of OS 138 and application programs
144. The services provided by kernel 142 include memory management,
process and task management, disk management, and I/O device
management.
[0026] Application programs 144 include a browser 146. Browser 146
includes program modules and instructions enabling a World Wide Web
(WWW) client (i.e., computer 100) to send and receive network
messages to the Internet. Computer 100 may utilize HyperText
Transfer Protocol (HTTP) messaging to enable communication with
server 150. Application programs 144 in system memory 136 also
include a Service Model Rules Propagation Program (SMRPP) 148.
SMRPP 148 performs the functions illustrated below in FIGS. 2-9,
and may include software components of the Service Model
Construction Logic 304, Business Impact Analysis logic 320,
performance logic 322, visual coding logic 324, rule propagation
logic 326, and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) logic 328 shown
below in FIG. 3.
[0027] The hardware elements depicted in computer 100 are not
intended to be exhaustive, but rather represent and/or highlight
certain components that may be utilized to practice the present
invention. For instance, computer 100 may include alternate memory
storage devices such as magnetic cassettes, Digital Versatile Disks
(DVDs), Bernoulli cartridges, and the like. These and other
variations are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the
present invention.
[0028] With reference now to FIG. 2, a service model 200, which is
constructed in accordance with the process described herein, is
depicted. Service model 200 includes multiple layers of resources,
including those shown for exemplary purposes as a department level,
a region level, and a computing resources level. The department
level includes a billing department 202, which has offices in the
London region (204a) and the Chicago region (204b). Each department
and region can be quantified (e.g., through performance data such
as sales figures, customer satisfaction levels, etc.) for creation
of the service model 200. As depicted, London region 204a has
access to an Application Server (AS1) 206a and a Database (DB1)
206b. Similarly, the Chicago region has access to two Application
servers (AS2-208a; AS3-208b) and a database (DB2-208c).
[0029] The relationship between the departments, regions and
computing resources are depicted in tables 210, 212 and 214. These
tables may be stored in data sources, such as the data sources 318
describe below in FIG. 3.
[0030] Referring now to FIG. 3, a relationship among a service
provider's server 302, data sources 318 and a customer's computer
308 is depicted. Also depicted is an exemplary set of steps that
are taken to create a service model in accordance with the present
disclosure.
[0031] Within the service provider's server 302 is a service model
construction logic 304. Service model construction logic 304
includes a storage 306, which holds a plurality of service model
templates. These service model templates provide a general
organizational framework for describing a relationship among
resources, including computing resource, departments, personnel,
etc., for an enterprise. Each service model template may include a
set of rules that map resources belonging to the template to one or
more external data sources. Similarly, each service model template
may include a set of rules that define a dependency relationship
(e.g., parent, child) between two or more depicted resources. Note
also that a single resource may be part of many different service
model templates. Some or all of these templates are sent to the
customer's computer 308 (Step 1). The customer (or intelligent
software logic within customer's computer 308) selects one or more
of the service model templates, and sends the selected service
model template(s) to a receiving logic 310 within the service model
construction logic 304 (Step 2). The selected service model
template is then sent to a storage 312 (Step 3), which forwards the
selected service model template to a construction and transmission
logic 314 (Step 4) and a data source identification logic 316 (Step
5). The data source identification logic 316 polls an appropriate
data source from the data sources 318 (Step 6), and the requisite
data is then sent to the construction and transmission logic 314
(Step 7). The construction and transmission logic 314 then creates
a service model that accurately represents the resources of the
customer, and sends this newly created service model to the
customer's computer 308 (Step 8). Note that the construction and
transmission logic 314 can cache data for the newly created service
model, such that sections of the newly created service model can be
re-created on-the-fly for transmission to the customer.
[0032] A business impact analysis logic 320 can analyze the health
of an enterprise's resources by using the newly created service
model. For example, a performance logic 322 can compare how well a
resource is or is not performing when compared to a predefined
benchmark, which is found in the data sources 318. In one
embodiment, these data sources 318 are a Configuration Management
Database (CMDB) that may be (as suggested by the dotted line)
directly managed by the customer using the customer's computer 308.
These benchmarks, as well as other data needed to define the
operation, relationship to other resources, and other parameters
for describing a particular resource may be obtained by a
Structured Query Language (SQL) query from the service model
construction logic 304 to the CMDB data sources 318. Alternatively,
the external data source may be from a web service. In either
scenario, logic (e.g., data source identification logic 316)
configures a policy that obtains both children and/or parents of
seed data sources, rather than simply making a standard database
query. As described in FIG. 5, each depicted resource can be
visually coded (e.g., color coded, shaded, etc.) to indicate how
well it is performing.
[0033] Note also that service provider's server 302 can include
logic for propagating rules between levels in the service model
(through the use of a rule propagation logic 326) as well as logic
for assigning Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and describing the
relationship between a KPI and a particular resource (through the
use of a KPI logic 326). Additional details of rule propagation and
KPI usage are provided below in FIGS. 6A-9. Note that a KPI is
simply a special type of rule, which, for purposes of the present
disclosure, can be categorized in two types: numeric and threshold
status. Numeric rules are rules that require a specific performance
value, while threshold status rules are rules which categorize
performance according to ranges.
[0034] A more detailed description of the process described in FIG.
3 is shown in the flow-chart of FIG. 4. After initiator step 402,
which may be prompted by a message from a customer's computer
asking that a service model of the customer's resources be created,
a plurality of service model templates are presented to the
customer (block 404). The customer selects which service model
template(s) he wants (block 406), which allows the service provider
to identify which external data sources are needed to describe
real-time characteristics of the resources to be depicted in a
newly created service model for the customer (block 408). The
service model is created (block 410), showing all resources
described by the identified external data sources. Note that the
steps shown in block 404-410 are exemplary steps taken in one
embodiment of the present invention. In another embodiment, the
service model can be created via user inputs into a Graphical User
Interface (GUI), scripted instructions (e.g., using Structured
Query Language or similar language scripts), etc.
[0035] As depicted in block 412, performance standards for each
resource depicted in the service model may be set. These
performance standards may be for software (e.g., error rates,
throughput, etc.), hardware (e.g., processing times, memory page
faults caused by needed data not being stored in cache, etc.) or
personnel (e.g., excessive absenteeism, failure to meet sales
quotas, etc.). If a resource meets, exceeds, or fails to meet a
predetermined performance standard, this condition can be
represented by visually coding the particular resource's depiction
in the service model (block 414). Utilizing such visual coding is
useful to a manager, or a performance software, when performing a
business impact analysis based on the performance of various
depicted enterprise resources (block 416). The process ends at
terminator block 418.
[0036] Different resources may be hidden if they, or their seed
resource, are functioning within normal parameters, or if the seed
resource has not been called for a specified period of time. For
example, consider the partial service model 502 shown in FIG. 5.
Initially, only the resource 204a, which depicts the London office
of the billing department is shown in a Graphical User Interface
(GUI) on a display (e.g., display 110 shown in FIG. 1) of the
customer's computer (e.g., customer's computer 308 shown in FIG.
3). As suggested by legend 504, the London office is performing
poorly. Initially, the parent department (billing 202) and the
computing resources (206a-b) are not depicted in the GUI. However,
by clicking on the depiction of the London office (204a), the
parent department (billing 202) and the computing resources
(206a-b) are displayed. As suggested by legend 508, the problem
appears to be caused by a communication failure between the London
office 204a and the Database DB1 (206b). A manager (or automatic
software logic) can then take the appropriate steps to correct the
problem. Note that the visual coding may be based on scoring data,
which can be viewed independently of the visual coding in a table
form, in order to provide the evaluator additional information
regarding the cause of the low performance of the London
office.
[0037] Note again that the initial presentation of the London
office (204a) may be in response to an anomaly (i.e.,
under-performance, over-performance, etc.), or a manager may simply
call up the desired resource (seed resource) to see how its
parent(s) and children are behaving.
[0038] Note also that in one embodiment, the grading of a
particular resource's performance is via rules propagation and the
use of KPIs, as described below.
[0039] With reference now to FIG. 6A, an exemplary representation
of how rules and KPIs pertain to the present process is presented.
First, however, an overview of rules and KPIs is presented.
[0040] Recall that nodes in the service model represent resources
(hardware, software, and human) that belong to or are accessible to
an enterprise. A rule is defined as a calculation that determines a
performance property of a resource. For example, a rule for a
server may calculate its response time, a rule for a set of web
servers may calculate an average response time, a rule for a
software application may calculate how often the software crashes,
and a rule for a human resource may calculate how many customer
complaints are received. The result of such calculations ultimately
result in a performance indicator value (scalar), which if
important (e.g., "mission critical"), will be a Key Performance
Indicator (KPI).
[0041] There are three main types of rules.
[0042] The first type of rule is the "event-based" rule. This rule
is triggered by an event, which may be a fault event such as a
slowdown in hardware or software functioning, an excessive number
of trouble tickets for a service, a page fault, a total computer
failure, a power outage, etc., or a useful event, such as a
computer performing above its design parameters, software running
extra fast, a division having fewer complaints than expected, etc.
Inputs for an event-based rule can be filtered. For example,
hardware and/or software filters can input events to a rule in a
depicted resource (in the service model) that only are relevant to
a particular computer, fall outside some pre-determined performance
parameter, etc., in order to expedite the execution of a rule.
Event-based rules are stand-alone rules, since they do not rely on
any other rule to execute.
[0043] A second type of rule is an intra-resource rule. As the name
indicates, an intra-resource rule depends on a plurality of other
rules, wherein the other rules are within the same resource. Thus,
two rules can operate together (asynchronously, wherein one rule
uses the output of another rule, or synchronously, wherein the two
rules execute together). This permits a calculation based on
multiple rules within a same resource. Inter resource rules can
perform any custom computation across other rules in templates to
which the instance belongs or it can invoke a configurable policy
script to provide an extra layer of configurable logic to do the
computation.
[0044] The third type of rule is an inter-resource rule, in which a
rule in one resource depends on the output of a rule in another
resource. These rules perform the job of aggregating the values of
specified rules and propagating the result to parent resources that
depend on the lower level resources. Examples of inter-resource
rules include averaging the value of a rule of child resources,
determining the maximum, minimum, or sum of the values of the child
resources. These rules can also invoke configurable policies to
execute arbitrary logic to perform the KPI calculation. The
policies can be configured to access external databases, make web
services calls, and query other areas of the service model to
obtain whatever data is necessary to compute the KPIs.
[0045] Note that each rule can have an importance value applied to
it, such that rules that are more important have higher importance
values for weighing, scoring, etc.
[0046] Consider now FIG. 6A. This figure depicts an example of how
a customer might configure templates and chain the KPI's in these
templates to model their business services. An application (modeled
with the Application template) 602 includes an intra-resource rule
("AppStatus"--Application Status). This rule depends on two
inter-resource rules ("MaxProc CPU"--Maximum CPU utilization of any
single process comprising the application.; "SumOf Memory"--How
much total memory is being utilized by all components of the
application; and "AvgDB Health"--the average score of the health of
databases used by the application). (Note that these inter-resource
rules will have their values depend on the values of rules inside
the child resources of the application parent).
[0047] Similarly, the Database template that models a database 604
has two event-based rules ("Query time"--the average length of time
needed to access data in response to a database query; "disk
usage"--the amount of disk space used by the database 604). These
event-based rules provide inputs ("QT" for Query Time and "DU" for
Disk Usage) to the intra-resource rule DB Health. This
intra-resource rule provides an input to the inter-resource rule
"AvgDB Health" found in the application 602.
[0048] Process 606, which is a thread or similar component of the
application 602, includes two event-based rules ("CPU"--Central
Processing Unit utilization rate; "Memory"--amount of system memory
used by a process on a computer). These two event-based rules
provide an input to the inter-resource rules ("MaxProc CPU" and
"SumOf Memory") found in the application 602.
[0049] Based on the inputs and outputs to and from the rules
depicted in FIG. 6A, status can be assigned and propagated for
KPI's in a service model, such as service model 700 shown in FIG.
7. The rules described in FIG. 6A can enable a service model to be
visually-coded (e.g., color-coded) in a manner that permits rapid
assessment of resources that are navigated to in a manner described
above. Thus, the application 602 is visually described as
performing below nominal (as suggested by the legend 702), perhaps
because the process 606 has totally failed (as suggested by legend
704).
[0050] Alternatively, these resources can be displayed in a chart
form, such as the chart 800 shown in FIG. 8. Note that such a chart
offers both the advantage of a quick visual overview (under the
"Visual coding" column) as well as detailed information (comparing
actual performance scalars with KPI standards).
[0051] Referring now to FIG. 6B, an example is presented that shows
how the templates, which were used to create the resource
depictions shown in FIG. 6A, can be applied to a small service
model. The "dnsprocess1" resource (resource 608) depiction is
created using the Process template described above, the "database1"
resource (resource 610) depiction is created using both the
Database template and the Process template (since a database
instance described as resource 610 is both a process and a
database), and the "MyWebApp1" resource depiction (resource 612)
uses the Application template. The "MyWebApp1" resource 612 depends
on the "dnsprocess1" resource 608 and the "database1" resources
610. Due to the KPI propagation logic that has been configured (see
FIG. 6A), when events come in to the system that specify current
values of the event-based rules for the resources (CPU, Memory
etc.), these values propagate up the hierarchy in real time,
affecting the Database/Health of the "database1" template and up to
the "MyWebApp1" resource. The "SumMem" rule of the "MyWebApp1" will
sum the "Memory" event-based rules of all its Process children (in
this case the sum of the Memory rules of "database1" and
"dnsprocess1"). The "AppStatus" rule in "MyWebApp1" will then be
updated to reflect the new "SumMem" value along with the "Max CPU"
and "Avg DB" rules, to provide a high level health metric of the
application that can be presented in a scorecard or other visual
tool.
[0052] Referring now to FIG. 9, a flow-chart of exemplary steps
taken to promulgate rules through a service model is presented.
After initiator block 902, an initial framework of a service model
is built (block 904), preferably in a manner described above. After
building the initial framework of the service model, a
determination is made, by a user or by software logic, as to which
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are to be associated with and
ultimately displayed on specific nodes (which represent resources)
in the service model (block 906). For example, assume that a
particular node represents a server. KPIs that may be associated
with that server may include processing speed time, CPU usage,
memory demands, etc.
[0053] As shown in block 908, event-based rules are matched to
incoming data at nodes at any level in the service model for which
there are raw data inputs (events) available. For example, assume
that a particular resource (e.g., a CPU) utilizes data (scalars)
from a particular data storage unit (e.g., a hard disk drive). An
event-based rule that matches this type of data, and the rate at
which the data is received, is configured for a given template, and
any number of resources can now be associated with this event-based
rule by assigning the resources to the template.
[0054] As described in block 910, the event-based rules are then
fed into other rules, including intra-resource rules within the
same resource node in the service model, as well as inter-resource
rules located in resource nodes that are at higher levels (are
above, and thus utilize the lower depicted resources) in the
service model. A determination is made as to which metrics will be
reported in these higher-level nodes (block 912). These reported
metrics (e.g., scalar outputs from rules within the higher-level
nodes) may be presented in graphical form in the service model
(such as shown in FIG. 7), or in tablature form (such as shown in
FIG. 8). Threshold standards (KPIs) are set for the outputs of the
rules in the nodes (block 914), and a report is created (block
916). This report can be a simple representation of some or all of
the service model (e.g., as shown in FIG. 7), or the report can be
a detailed analysis, in tablature, text, graphic or combination
format.
[0055] Based on the created report and/or the representations of
the resources in the service model and/or charts, a business impact
analysis can then be performed (block 918). This business impact
analysis determines how the resources are affecting the overall
delivery of service using the resources described by the nodes,
rules and KPIs as described above. Depending on this analysis, a
determination can be made as to whether such services meet the
requirements of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between a service
provider and a customer, if more or less maintenance of resources
is required, etc. The process ends at terminator block 920.
[0056] Note that the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures
illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of
possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program
products according to various embodiments of the present invention.
In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may
represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises
one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified
logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some
alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may
occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two
blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially
concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the
reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will
also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or
flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block
diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by
special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified
functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and
computer instructions.
[0057] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing
particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of
the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and
"the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood
that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this
specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers,
steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude
the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers,
steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
[0058] The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and
equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the
claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or
act for performing the function in combination with other claimed
elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present
invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and
description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the
invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations
will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without
departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The
embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the
principles of the invention and the practical application, and to
enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the
invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are
suited to the particular use contemplated.
[0059] Having thus described the invention of the present
application in detail and by reference to preferred embodiments
thereof, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are
possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined
in the appended claims.
* * * * *